Blog Post

ALEXA SXT development complete

ARRI is pleased to announce that development of the ALEXA SXT cameras (Super Xtended Technology) is completed.

ARRI will now make good on its promise to provide upgrades to all ALEXA XT EV, ALEXA XT Plus and ALEXA XT Studio cameras shipped in 2015 and 2016. In addition to the originally promised upgrade program of a free-of-charge upgrade to SXT in Munich, ARRI has equipped its service stations in London, Los Angeles, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong and Mumbai to perform the upgrade. For those who received their XT camera before 2015, a paid-for upgrade option to a full SXT is also available.

While keeping the sensor and user interface of the original ALEXA design, the capabilities of ALEXA SXT cameras (ALEXA SXT EV, ALEXA SXT Plus and ALEXA SXT Studio) have been greatly extended. Equipped with the powerful electronics and sophisticated image processing of the ALEXA 65, SXT cameras can manage more recording formats and handle more processor-intensive tasks such as calculating looks with 3D LUTs or color space conversions to Rec 2020, all in real time.

The new ARRI look management offers a wide range of unique looks while making it easy to maintain and share the cinematographer’s intended look on set, in dailies and in editing. An optional mild noise reduction helps when shooting in low light.

ALEXA SXT has the most powerful and flexible monitoring features for perfect quality control on set. While all images recorded with ALEXA have been High Dynamic Range since the camera’s introduction in 2010, it is now possible to also monitor in HDR. Four independent monitoring outputs (viewfinder and 3x MON OUTs) provide the right image for each crew member, and each of the MON OUTs can output to either a Rec 709 or Rec 2020 monitor.

The new media bay can accept a wide range of media, including SxS PRO cards, SxS PRO+ cards, CFast 2.0 cards, XR Capture Drives and the new, high-performance SXR Capture Drives. All that horsepower allows frame rate increases for various recording formats, and ProRes will be recorded super-safely via a RAID function.